I'm Always Here
by WordsPagesStories
Summary: Auggie had Via. Jack had Jada. Life's crazy and sometimes you just need some one to talk to and give you advice.
1. Chapter 1- Jada

"I have one piece of advice for you today," I finally decided to talk to Jack when we were less than a block away from Beecher Prep.

"What is it?"

I stopped him and forced him to look at me. It wasn't really hard because I had little over a foot on him. He was just going into fifth grade while I was going into twelfth. "I know you actually don't want to do this. And that's fine. Just try not to be a huge-." I stopped myself right before I said the other thing. I wasn't allowed to curse in front of him. "Jerk."

"What were you going to say instead?" He suddenly was a lot more interested in what I'm saying.

"Nothing, that's not important. The point is, I know that Julian is not the nicest person in the world. Just try to make the new kid, August, feel welcome. And not like unwanted dirt, like I know Julian will do." By then, he wasn't even looking at me anymore. He was already walking again and I had to jog to catch up to him. "You got that Jack Asher Will?"

"Loud and clear Jada Allison Will." Both our first names started with J and both out middle names started with A for some reason. Dad had always told Jack that it's because it would make our initials JAW. And if he was calling for both of us, he could just call for JAWS. I still thought it was a coincident though.

We stopped again when we arrived at the front of the school. Beecher Prep School. I never went there. No, I was a public school kid, which meant that by fifth grade, there had been at least one kid smoking weed. And by seventh grade, someone had offered me weed brownies. But, Jack was on a scholarship there. Kind of surprising actually, his grades really weren't anything groundbreaking. But I knew he would stay an innocent little child for a while longer going there. If anybody mentioned drugs at this school, they'd probably be thrown out.

"I'll be back in an hour, have fun."

I watched Jack go into the front office. He was the first one to get there because then Charlotte passed by me. I only knew who she was because the year before I worked backstage for the school's production of "Oliver". Charlotte had been Oliver of course and didn't do half bad. Jack was in it too. He never took the theater arts elective but every year they'd "ask" a few other kids to be in their production for size. He was on a scholarship so he couldn't really say no. He was something not important. That's all I remembered.

Then a pretty nice car pulled up. Julian hopped out of the backseat onto the curb and passed me. Everything about him screamed trust fund. His parents were loaded; he went to Paris on a regular basis. I hate him. I had a pure unadulterated loathing for him.

Julian and Jack used to be friends. And by used to, I mean they were still "friends", it's just that Jack silently hated him. He purposely or unknowingly constantly made Jack feel really bad about himself. Maybe Jack could become friends with this new kid and leave his old friends behind.

I had an hour to kill and had nothing else to do. The school was not close to any place I wanted to go. I didn't know what else to do, so I decided to snoop around the school. Nothing would happen if I didn't get caught and even if I did get caught, I didn't go there and school was not in session. What was the worst that could happen?

As soon as I stepped into the main building I could already tell this wasn't like a public school. It still had classrooms, water fountains, lockers, and other stuff like all schools. But it was a lot cleaner. Not only because it's summer, but also because there wasn't any graffiti anywhere.

A few of the classroom doors were open. They were probably the ones Charlotte, Jack, and Julian would be showing to the new kid. I silently opened one of them and slipped in. I turned on the lights. On the front board, "Welcome to Fifth Grade History!" was written. And underneath that, "Ms. De Waal".

The class lists were left on the teacher's desk. For the fun of it, I went through the stacks of names to see if Jack had this class for history. First period: Samantha Belle…. Simon Duke…. Riley Frenburg…. Ben Morgan… Max Wagner. And nothing after that. Second period: Micah Chandler… Veronica Hargensen…. Ram Quimby… Kaia Zonik. No one with W last names. Third period: Julian Albans… Charlotte Cody, Read Danenbaum… Lydia Hathaway… Jonas Lynch… Noemi Webber… Jack Will. Found him. Unfortunately he was going to be stuck with Julian.

I moved all the papers back to where they were before I came in. I turned off the lights and slipped out of the classroom. I either had really good timing or horrible. Just as I entered the hallway I heard people coming down the stairs. It had to be them. It was good timing because I wouldn't be caught in the room with them. There was no place a five-nine seventeen year old could hide. But it was bad timing because unless I could get out of there. I'd be in the same situation as if I was in there.

I spotted a set of double-doors that lead to the outer courtyard. I sprinted out just as the four of them came down the stairs. Outside, I should have realized that I should give up and get off of school property. But I was just so curious. I just couldn't help it, especially when I saw " **Beecher Auditorium** " on the side of a smaller builder connected to the hallway I had just come from.

I checked the backstage door that I used whenever I worked backstage for their shows. On the side of the theater, there was a plaque. **"Great Thanks to Melissa, Lucas, and Julian Albans!** " No surprise there. That family poured money into the school.

For some odd reason the backstage door was actually unlocked. I stumbled around in the dark for a minute before I found the light switch. It was a lot creepier than I remembered. Probably because there weren't twenty-five little third, fourth, and fifth graders running around. Backstage and in the wings, there were still the sets from "Oliver!". I had used my non-existing art skills to paint pretty much all of them after school. Nothing to be really proud of.

I looked for the one painted backdrop for the Fagin's hideout. Something hilarious had happened the last rehearsal before their first show. I remembered it so well because Jack had been the reason there was a hole in the piece. Well, it really wasn't Jack's fault. Julian or some other kid accidentally or purposely pushed him, causing him to fall into the painting. It was done on a pretty thin paper and ripped instantly. He had felt so bad afterwards and cried for the rest of the rehearsal. Everything was fine, I just pushed a chair in front of it and pretended nothing was wrong.

I found it folded in the corner. Then I made my way out of the wings onto the main stage. It wasn't as big of a stage as the one at my school, but it was impressive for an elementary school. No one called Beecher Prep an elementary school. It was a "lower and middle" grade school. Really just because it sounded fancy.

The auditorium's house lights flickered on. Uh oh, they were there now.

"And this is where we put on plays, have orchestra, band, and choir concerts. Oh, and we have assemblies here."

Before I knew what was happening, Charlotte appeared in the aisle, dragging the new kid behind her. Jack followed them and Julian was nowhere to be seen. I was frozen for some reason, I didn't move, I just watched. Luckily, Charlotte was too wrapped up in her talking to notice me. The new kid was staring at the floor and so was Jack.

They moved closer to the stage. Jack looked up and saw me. He did a double take. I bet it was a pretty big surprise to see his older sister there. His face said it all. "What the heck are you doing here? Why? How? "

I mouthed, "Don't say anything. Just pretend like I'm not here."

"Okay," He said without sound.

Then the kid they were taking on the tour looked up. I could see why the school wanted him to make some friends before school started. His face wasn't what you'd call normal. But if he was a good person and not a total jerk like some people, he should have been fine. The other students should have been able to see pass his imperfect looks.

He was just as surprised as Jack was. He didn't say anything eithers but he reached over and tapped Jack on the shoulder. He looked up to and realized that someone else had noticed me.

"Get out," Jack said a little above a whisper.

I nodded and got myself off that stage as fast as I could. That was enough exploring for one day. I returned to where I had dropped him off earlier and waited. Not too long later, the kid and his mom passed me. He stared at me as he walked by, obviously he recognized me. Probably thought that I was some sort of creep, sneaking into schools. Then Charlotte, Julian, and Jack appeared from the front office.

Julian walked slower and fell behind the other two. Charlotte happily skipped passed me and climbed into a car waiting by. Jack came slower but faster than Julian.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It was fine," He answered and we started walking. It was a twenty minute walk home and he probably didn't want to waste any time. "Julian wasn't being nice to August."

"What did he say?" Sometimes Jack just wouldn't talk to Mom and Dad about things going on in his life. Just last week, Mom figured out that he and Julian weren't friends anymore and Dad still didn't know. He would really only open up for me.

"He kept asking August if he was in a fire or something. And he was acting like August must have been stupid just because he had never been to real school. And when he told Julian that he was going to take the science elective, Julian… Never mind."

"Come on, you can tell me what he said. I promise I won't tell anyone unless it's really bad. If it makes you feel better, I've never told anyone anything you've told me." I nudged him.

"When August told Julian that he was going to be in the science elective he said it was only for the 'smartest kids' or something like that."

"Okay, that was rotten of him but…"

"Jada, you didn't let me finish," Jack said a little louder before he lowered his voice, "So I said that I was going to be taking that elective. And he laughed and said, 'Maybe the two of you could fail together'."

There it was. "Oh." I hugged him on impulse. He tried to escape from my clutches but I had a height and strength advantage. When I finally let go he looked around to make sure no one he might have known saw that. "Relax, there's no one in a five block radius."

We walked in silence for a little while longer. The next time Jack spoke, he had completely changed the subject, "So, what were you doing while I gave the tour?"

"I may or may not have been exploring the school," The look on my face gave away the fact that I totally was, "You won't tell Mom, will you?"

"With all the secrets you're keeping for me, it would practically be suicide if I told them about that," He paused then added, "Also, you do know that August saw you, right?"

"Yeah, what can you do?" I then remembered what I had found backstage and started to laugh, he looked at me like I was absolutely insane. "Remember that backdrop you broke last year during Oliver?"

"I thought you would have forgotten by now," Jack groaned. "And it wasn't even my fault. You saw Julian push me."

"Yeah, but I found it today and it's still funny."

We changed the subject to the new Star Wars movie coming out. We argued the rest of the way home on what we thought would happen in The Last Jedi. When we arrived at the bottom of our apartment building I asked what had been on my mind since Jack said that Julian had pushed him. He'd never admitted to that even though I saw it, he always said it was either an accident or he tripped by himself.

"Have you ever thought that Julian might be bullying you just a tad bit?"

"What? No! Jada, that's crazy. Julian might be kind of a bully to some other kids but not to me. He just isn't the nicest guy in the world. He's not bullying me. That's being overdramatic." He turned away from me and ran ahead.

"Yeah, okay, Jack. Sure."

* * *

 **So I recently read Wonder and saw the movie and I'm so in love with it right now. I just loved how Via was kind of there for Auggie and thought it would be great if Jack had one two. If you can't tell, he's my favorite character. I know that Jack technically has a younger brother, but I'm replacing him with an older sister. This story will be a combination of the book and movie and all the characters are how they looked in the movie. Cool? Cool.**

 **Quote of the Day/Week/Month:**

 **To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. (Barbara Bush)**


	2. Chapter 2- Jada

Literally nobody else at my school was in the situation I was in. Ever since I was six years old when Jack was born, I was forced to share a room with him. At first, when he was still a baby, I hated it. He cried all the time, which would wake me up every night. The only upside to it was that he didn't take up much room. But when he was four or five, and I was eleven, I learned what actual hell was. Jack had gotten to the point where he could walk and talk. And talk her did. He asked so many questions, I was ready to kill him. And to make it worst, around that same time, Mom and Dad had determined that I wouldn't get the majority of the room anymore. Before then, he'd gotten about a quarter of it; all he really had was a crib and a few other things. But he was growing up like all kids and would need more space. Since then, it's been half and half. Though, I did convince Mom to let me have the closet we used to share too. I did that when I was twelve so I could keep some of my stuff behind locked doors, away from Jack.

The first day of school was always the worse. The only upside that year was the fact that it would be my last year of high school. I had to wake up a little before seven. School started at eight on the dot for Jack and at eight-twelve for me. And of course, I was stuck walking Jack to school. It actually wasn't that bad, my high school was five blocks away from Beecher. But I had a feeling that Jack wouldn't be too keen on me walking with him on his first day of middle school. There was a reason why I didn't tell him that I'd be taking him yet.

I glanced across the room to Jack's bed. He was sleeping so peacefully. It was kind of cute; he slept with his mouth open. Well, it was time for me to ruin it for him.

I took my pillow and tiptoed over to his side of the room. Not using all my strength, I brought the pillow down onto his chest. He bolted upwards and looked really surprised. Then he saw me.

"Wake up and smell the sunshine!" I hugged the pillow tightly to my chest so he couldn't try to steal it from me.

"Jada!"

"What? I had to wake you somehow." He must have been thinking quickly because he turned around and grabbed his pillow. He started hitting me with it in retaliation.

I tossed my pillow to the side and then sort of jumped on him. We wrestled for a few seconds before I had him pinned underneath me. Jack kept on squealing under me and shortly, I heard footsteps. Our bedroom door opened and there was Mom.

"I see you two are up. Excited?" We looked at her but then went back to what we were doing before. Mom laughed and shook her head, "Alright, Jada, get off your brother before you squash him." I sighed before complying. "Get a move on. Remember Jack; school starts at eight for you now. Not eight thirty." For the lower grades, school started later to keep the halls less crowded.

"Believe me, I remember," He mumbled.

I then went to my dresser to find clothes for the day. I wasn't too concerned about what I chose: pretty much anything I owned would go together. I turned around and had to hold in a laugh.

"Wow, Jack, those are some hot pajamas."

"Shut up, I couldn't find my other pajamas, okay." Both of us knew exactly how much he hated the Star Wars pajamas that Aunt Christine got for his birthday. The worst part about them was that they were covered in Porgs. I was still almost sure that they were found in the girl's section. But Jack was pretty fetusy and easily fit into them.

"Still funny."

I went into my closet to change. There was no light in the closet so once I closed the door; it was a gamble to see if I would put on my clothes backwards or something. No matter how much I got used to changing in the dark, at least once a week, my shirt would be on backwards. When I opened the door I immediately noticed that my show shirt from when I had done Pippin was on backwards. I knew because when I looked down, I saw a cast list and not a logo. The front was printed with the 2013 Broadway Revival logo and the back had the entire cast list. The print was pretty small for the cast list, there were a lot of kids doing it that year. With it being my first year of high school and there being so many kids, I of course was in the ensemble. Though, I was the stand-by for Fastrada. But then the next year they changed it, so the musical would be a by-audition class you could take. Instead of an after school program that any old schmo could join. I didn't like to brag, but I had been able to get into the class every time.

I considered returning to the closet to switch my shirt around but realized I really didn't care. I had deck changed once at the front of the school in middle school and Jack was my brother. It didn't matter to much. I was halfway done when Jack turned around.

"What the heck? I thought you went into our closet to do that."

I finished flipping my shirt around and putting my arms through the armholes. I walked over to him and flicked his arm, "Relax. And correction, it's my closet. Not your closet, okay?"

"Whatever."

Halfway through breakfast, Mom appeared from her bedroom. She was just about ready to leave to do whatever she was doing that day. Dad had already left, he taught an A period at my high school. I didn't take an A period for two reasons. First, I wasn't ready to start school at 7:17 every morning. Second, I didn't need to. That year I was taking, English, History, Math, Science, and the theater class counted as P.E. and Music. I quit taking French as soon as I could.

"Remember Jada, today you're walking with Jack to his school. And Mrs. Albans is giving you a ride home after school."

"What?" Jack looked at both of, betrayed, "I hate Julian! And I can walk myself. It's barely over a mile."

"Hmm, letting my less than average sized fifth grade son walk around in New York alone, I think I'll pass."

"But you let Jada go by herself." He had a very annoying complaining voice.

"That's because she's almost six feet tall, has taken self defense, and always has bear spray and a stun gun with her." Mom explained, "Either you walk to school with Jada or I call Melissa and take her up on her offer to bring you to school too. You're going to get a ride home from her whether you like it or not."

Jack groaned, "Fine, she can walk with me. But I don't have to get a ride from them if I go over to someone else's house?"

"No you don't, but tell Julian so they're not waiting for you." Mom came up behind us and gave us each hugs before heading for the door, "See you later today. Good luck on your first day."

I checked the clock on the wall. 7:35. We needed to go if Jack wanted to be on time. Grabbed both of our dishes and put them in the sink. Jack had gone into some sort of daze. I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

"Hey, we got to go."

We were out of the house by 7:45. I had my backpack ready from the night before but Jack wasn't as prepared. He ran around for a little while, trying to find his pencil case and shoes. Knowing that he'd need some time to get to his homeroom, we ran almost all the way. But we slowed down when we started getting close to the school. There were plenty of parents there to drop off their kids.

Right before Jack dashed, I reminded him, "Remember, you're a getting a ride with Julian. And try to be nice to August. Okay."

"Okay sure, whatever," Jack took off towards the school.

As soon as he was out of sight I broke into a run. My high school was three blocks away and I still needed to get my schedule. All I knew about my schedule was that my fifth and sixth period was theater. I got my schedule at 8:05 and had to run across the school to find my Math class. By the time first period started, I was breathing hard.

First and second period were quite uneventful for me. Math and Science were my absolute least favorite subjects. I wasn't bad at them, I just didn't like the class. Third and fourth were more enjoyable though. English was always fun because reading and writing was something I enjoyed. And all of the History teachers were just really entertaining.

By some miracle of god, in every one of my classes I had at least one of my best friends. Leo was in my math and history class. Jonah was in my science, English, and history class. All three of us had auditioned into the theater class as well. For the end of elementary school and entirety of middle school, the other students thought it was strange that I hung out with the boys and not other girls. And in high school people were surprised to figure out that I wasn't dating either of them. We were just friends, and that was fine.

In history, we were allowed to choose our own seats. Jonah sat next to me and Leo sat behind us. Unlike most high school classes, our teacher, Ms. Abel, had us play two truths in a lie.

"You know, I never knew that you didn't have a cousin named Claire." Leo said to Jonah on our way to lunch.

"Really? I did," I added.

"Yeah, I made up Claire for a project. We were supposed to write about our family in seventh grade , remember that? But I made up a cousin so I could make her the most stereotypical white girl ever. No one ever found out, except for the people I told of course."

"So, Jade, I've been wondering, " Leo changed the subject, "Is your brother still hanging out with that trust fund brat?"

"Julian?"

"Yeah him."

"Not really anymore," I explained, "He hates Julian now. And why do you hate him so much, you've had what? One conversation with him."

"I have my reasons," Not surprisingly, he changed the subject once more. "Anyway, what do you think this year's show will be?"

Every year, the show was announced on the first day and by the end of the first week there were auditions. We got our roles on the next Monday and did our read through. Then we spent the rest of the year in rehearsals. And starting mid-April to the end of school we did eight shows a week just like Broadway performers.

"I don't know, but it'd be cool if we did Heathers," I wasn't a huge fan of the show but I had wanted to do it since I listened to the sound track a year ago. "Leo, you could be Ram or Kurt. And I could totally see you, Jonah, as J.D."

"You've got to be kidding me, " Jonah said, "I have never been cast in a role that has a solo or more than three lines. I'm doomed to be in the ensemble."

"No you're not," I assured, "You have one of the best voices in the school. I have a feeling this is your year."

"I hate to break up this love situation," I could tell Leo felt like he was third wheeling, "But I heard that there are only twenty kids in the class this year. They only let the amount of characters they'll have in the show they'll doing in. It can't be a big show like Heathers. That also means that Legally Blonde and Les Mis is out."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough."

As soon as lunch ended, the three of us started for the auditorium. We were the first to show up. I recognized most of the kids coming in from previous shows but there were one or two new faces. The last person to come in was our director. Everyone took a seat in one of the chairs that had been put in a circle on the stage.

"Welcome everyone to my theater class. I'm Henry. I have a last name but I hate it. And I know what you're all wondering." He paused for dramatic effect. "You're wondering what show we'll be doing. But, because I am a horrible person I'm not going to tell you what it is until after we get to know each other. So, starting with Mauve, we're going to introduce ourselves. Please state your name, grade, the last show you were in and what you were , your favorite role, favorite show, least favorite show, and dream role or roles. I know you all have more than one. Mauve."

Jonah leaned over and whispered, "There are only fourteen kids here."

"Well okay, I'm Mauve. I'm in tenth grade. The last show I was in was Bring It On and I was Eva. My favorite role was when I was Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka when I was seven. Favorite show is The Fantasticks. Least favorite is Hamilton. And my dream role is Christine in Phantom."

"So, why don't you like Hamilton?" Someone asked.

"It's not that I don't like it or don't think it's good or think it's over popular. It just doesn't appeal to me. I don't like rap even when you put it in theater. And it's not as an original idea as people say it is. There are plenty of other musicals about the revolution and plenty more that have rap."

"Interesting."

"Hi, I'm Leo. I'm in twelfth grade. My last show was Finding Neverland and I was an understudy for Barrie. I went on once. And my favorite role ever was Leroy Herdman in the Best Christmas Pageant Ever because I got to pretend to punch a kid. My favorite show is tick, tick, BOOM!. Least favorite is Bridges of Madison County. And I don't really have a dream role."

"Uh, I'm Jonah. I'm in twelfth grade. Last show was also Finding Neverland but I was Elliot. Favorite role was whatever I was in Bugsy Malone. I love Pippin but I despise Spongebob. Dream role is probably something from Hairspray."

"Okay, so I'm Jada. Like those two, I'm in twelfth grade and my last show was Finding Neverland. But I was Mary Barrie. Favorite role was Marcy in the 25th Annual Spelling Bee. I don't have a favorite. But I don't like Elf. And dream role is Gretchen from Jasper in Deadland."

It took the rest of the fifth period for us to introduce ourselves. The bell rang for sixth period but we didn't go anywhere. As the last person was introducing themselves, Henry was passing around small packets. The front page was blank and I knew we weren't allowed to turn the first page until he told us so.

"Now that we all know each other a little better, I think it's time to unveil what show we'll be putting on. Anyone have any guesses what it'll be?" A few hands were put up, "Christmas?"

"Tuck?"

"Everlasting? I did think of that one but I thought the one I chose would give more people bigger roles."

All of the other guesses were wrong.

"Everyone, on the count of three, turn the page. One, two, three." I turned the page and saw the show. "Carrie."

"Isn't that a horror movie?" A kid named Niall asked.

"Yes, but it's also a wonderful musical, in my opinion."

We spent the rest of sixth period learning the story and the characters. By the end of class I had an idea of who I wanted to play in the show.

I got home from school and grabbed the family computer before Jack could. I did more research on Carrie and fell in love with it.

"Jada! Where's the computer? I can't find it!" Jack was home.

"I have it!" I answered.

Our bedroom door swung open and in walked Jack.

"Could I use the computer?"

"Not right now, I have work to do."

"No you don't, it's the first day of school!"

"I'm in high school so yeah, I do!" It had quickly turned into a screaming match between us. "Get lost!"

"You get lost!"

"Quit being such a brat!"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Great," I brought the computer with me and went into my closet. I locked the door behind me. "Bye!"

"I hate you!" I head him clam the door and stomp away.

"Love you too!"

* * *

Sorry I kind of went on a musical rant. But I really do love Carrie. Hope you're liking this so far. The next chapter will probably be from Jack's point of view. If not next chapter, the chapter after that.


	3. Chapter 3- Jack

"Jack Will, could you come here?"

I sighed and closed the family laptop. I hoped that talking to Mom wouldn't take too long because I knew I wouldn't get much more time on the computer. Jada needing to do homework over rode me wanting to play Minecraft. I left the laptop on my bed and headed into the kitchen.

"What is it?"

"Would you be willing to be in the play for the Middle School? Miss Savannah was wondering." Mom proposed. I looked at her funny.

"I thought theater was an elective. I'm taking the science one, remember?" Unfortunately. Before school started, taking the science elective sounded like a good idea but I was definitely not smart enough for the class. I hadn't gotten a score higher than a seventy-five percent on any test or project. We had gotten report cards home that day and my grade was in the D area. Not that my other class grades were much better. I was dangerously close to an F in English.

"Well, theater is an elective up until fourth grade. But once your in Middle School it's an after school program. Miss Savannah, you remember her from last year, right?" I nodded. "Well, the first day of the class is next Monday and not enough kids have signed up. So she's calling everyone from last year. She'd really like it if you could do it again."

"No."

"At least think about it for a day."

"No." I turned and started back to my bedroom.

"If you do it, you won't have to get a ride home with Julian. Jada and a few of her friends are going to be helping out there. She can walk home with you afterwards." I would have still said no because that didn't really matter to me. A few days after I started hanging out with Auggie more, Julian made up a lie that he told his mom. He told her I didn't need a ride anymore. It was fine with me, unless I was going over to Auggie's house, I would just walk to Jada's school and watch the end of their rehearsals before walking home with her. But, Mom didn't know that so I had to pretend like it was a compelling option for me.

By the time I was back in our room, I had been roped into being in the Middle School's production. And to make things worst, Jada now had the computer. I had "finished" my homework, more or less, and had nothing better to do. So, I snuck up behind Jada and looked at what she was doing.

She had two pages opened on the screen. One was an email and the other was a word document page she was typing in. I tried to read what she was typing but it made no sense. It was some paper for English. But the email made a lot more sense.

 **To: mal2 ; msf ; wge3 ; dnc ; reb4 ; lba ; jaw ; jdv2 ; nfs5 ; tfs8 ; cpp2 ; mao ; zdn6 ; lsm**

 **Fr: hlivingston**

 **Subject: Cast List and Rehearsal Schedules**

 **With a few of you about to start helping with rehearsals at Beecher Prep, I know that we're going to have to change how long our rehearsals go every day. On the days, which I believe are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with their rehearsals we'll end ours at three-fifteen. That will give you fifteen minutes to get down to Beecher. On other days, rehearsals will go until four-thirty or five depending on the day. For those of you who are too lazy to read all this I'll list the times below.**

 **REHEARSAL SCHEDUAL**

 **Monday: 5** **th** **Period- 3:15**

 **Tuesday: 5** **th** **Period- 4:30(5:00)**

 **Wednesday: 5** **th** **Period- 3:15**

 **Thursday: 5** **th** **Period- 4:30(5:00)**

 **Friday: 5** **th** **Period- 3:15**

 **Saturday (Every Other Week): 12:30- 4:00**

 **NOTE* I added Saturday rehearsals to make up for what we miss on Mon., Weds., Fri.**

 **And in case you forgot, which you shouldn't have…**

 **CAST LIST**

 **Leo Artemis- George**

 **Ruby Burke- Carrie White**

 **Dylan Camber- Stokes**

 **Widget Erwin- Margaret White**

 **Madden Fitzpatrick- Norma**

 **Mischa Lynch- Freddy**

 **Lauren Mathewson- Billy Nolan**

 **Zara Nicole- Frieda**

 **Mauve O'Brien- Ms. Gardener**

 **Christmas Parker- Sue Snell**

 **Tal Sanders- Helen**

 **Niall Schwartz- Mr. Stephens**

 **Jonah Valentine- Tommy Ross**

 **Jada Will- Chris Hargensen**

Jada ran her hand through her hair and ended up hitting me in the chin. She whirled around.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was bored," I tried to change the subject by asking about what I saw, "Who's Chris Hargensen? That is who you're playing, right?"

"I'd probably strangle you if I didn't have to finish this paper." Jada turned back around and continued typing. "And to answer your question, Chris is kind of the villain of the show."

"Cool," Jada was nearly never the bad guy. "What do you do?"

"I dump a bucket of pig's blood on Carrie at the end of the show." She said surprisingly casually.

"What?" I took a double take.

"Well, technically Billy and Chris dump the blood on her together."

I checked the cast list again. A girl named Lauren was playing him.

"Who's Lauren? Is she new?"

"Correction, Lauren's a he. Before it was a girls name, it was a boys name. And he is new. He and Ruby are our only tenth graders. Real wimpy kid. Reminds me of you."

"Hey." I knew I was a little shorter than most kids my age were and I wasn't too athletic compared to boys like Julian and Amos.

"But he's really sweet. Pretty talented too. I mean, he did beat out a lot of seniors and juniors that auditioned."

That night I couldn't sleep. Part of it was because Jada was still working on the computer in there. But it was mainly because I just couldn't. It must have been past midnight by the time Jada shut down the computer and got into bed.

"Jada, are you asleep yet?"

"I was almost. But I'm not anymore." She didn't sound upset about me trying to talk to her, yet. "What is it?"

"I can't sleep. And I was wondering. Why do some people call me Jack Will?"

She laughed, "Well that's stupid. Because that's your legal name."

"No, I mean, why do some people, like you and Auggie and Julian and Dad, call me Jack. And other people like Mom and Mr. Tushman call me by my first and last name. Jack Will."

"I don't really know either. Jack Will just has a nice ring to it. I guess. Why does it matter?"

"Just wondering." I added, "Oh, also, Mom roped me into doing the play."

"That'll be fun, won't it." I didn't respond, "I thought you had fun last year. Maybe you didn't have fun, but you didn't hate it."

"I just feel kind of bad doing it."

"Why?" She had slipped out from underneath her covers and was sitting cross legged and facing me.

I copied her. My eyes had adjusted to the dark by then. "Because I don't want to leave Auggie alone after school. I've gone over to his house a few times and I don't want to leave him high and dry almost every day."

"Why can't Auggie just do the show with you. I'm sure his parents would let him." Jada argued.

"Jada!" I said a little too loudly, "He's not going to want to do it. People would laugh at him because of his face. You just don't get it."

"At least ask him tomorrow," She said, "And if he doesn't want to. Tell him that he could help out backstage with the high schoolers. We could always use the extra help. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Goodnight Jada."

"Night Jackalope."

* * *

I got to homeroom early that day and slipped into my seat that was next to Auggie's but unfortunately in front of Julian's. Auggie was reading some big book. I snapped my fingers and he looked up.

"I have a proposition for you," I learned that word from Jada sometime over the summer.

"Nice going Will, that's a big word," Julian commented and Miles gave him a fist bump.

"This doesn't concern you," Auggie then lowered his voice so only I could hear him, "Don't listen to Julian. He's just trying to get under your skin."

I pretended like I didn't hear what he'd said even though I knew it was true. I wasn't half as smart as the rest of the kids here, I knew it. It would be a miracle if they'd let me stay there the next year. "Well, I've been kind of roped into being in the school play afterschool. And I was wondering if you would be willing to do it too." I heard Julian scoff behind me.

Auggie's facial expression changed, "Uh, I don't think that's such a great idea. I don't think they'd want me in this. I couldn't…"

"If you don't want to, my sister says that you could just work backstage or whatever. You don't want to if you don't have to. But, if you'd like…"

"I'll think about it," That meant no. A resounding no.

"Auggie, if you do decide to do it, it'll be so much fun," Leave it to Charlotte to preach about theater. "I guarantee it."

"Thanks Charlotte," Julian faked caring, "But you don't have to do it if you don't want to. Though, I am."

"You are?" The three of us stared at him and so did Miles and Henry.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?"

"Since when?" Charlotte blurted.

"Since now."

Uh-oh. This was not good. This was the opposite of good. This was disastrous. The only reason he would be doing it would be because he'd have the perfect opportunity to pick on Auggie. Part of me wanted to make sure that Auggie didn't do the class. But the other part of me secretly wanted him to because no matter how good friends I was with him. I knew that if he wasn't there, I'd be Julian's next target. My conscious however won over.

I leaned over to Auggie and whispered, "You don't have to. It's fine."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, boys, but the bell just rang," I heard the rest of the class giggle after Mr. Browne called us out. I started turning red. Mom, Dad, and Jada all told me that when I turned red I turned red. That just made things worst.

"Thank you boys," Mr. Browne turned and underlined the sentence he had written on the board. "Who would like to read this to the rest of us?" A few hands shot up. "Dakota."

The other bubbly blonde of our class put down her hand and read out loud and clear, "Everyone hates everyone with the exception of a few people."

"Good, thank you. Now, can somebody tell me what this is? Not what you think it means, but what is it?" The same hands went up, mine didn't. "Callan."

"Is it another one of your precepts?"

"Good guess. Yes, and no." There were a few more guesses that were mainly close but not there yet. Finally, Mr. Browne revealed it to us, "All good guesses. It's not one of my monthly precepts but a precept of some sort. My monthly precepts are normally quotes I've discovered over the years, but this is something I've discovered. For the rest of this period I want you to think of some sort of truth about the world and life. Or something you believe in. Write it down and tomorrow we can share them. At the end of the year I'm going to have you find your own precepts. And I've learned that not everyone can find one that they stand completely behind and there's nothing wrong with making up your own if it means something."

I just stared at my blank sheet of paper until the bell rang and it was time for English. Mr. Browne was also our first period English teacher. We took out our English notebooks.

That day was a good English day. Mr. Browne started reading the book _Out of My Mind_. We didn't have to do anything but listen. It was somewhere between the second and third chapter when it hit me. My head was resting on my desk and I popped up when it came to me. While doing that, I accidently knocked my notebook off my desk. Mr. Browne stopped and everyone stared. I could feel them silently judging me. So much for the good English day. Still, I had to write down the precept that came to me. I scribbled it down on the piece of paper I had before. **It takes a lot to cross the line, but once you do, it's hard to go back**. It couldn't be more true. For Julian at least.

* * *

 **I'm pretty sure the next chapter will focus on Halloween. I'm not completely sure but that's what I believe it will be about that. Also, if you do care to do so, leave me a comment. They just make me really happy. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.**


	4. Chapter 4- Jada

"So, J, how do I look?" Jack jumped out from behind our curtain to show off his Halloween costume.

I looked up from our computer, "Like you did this morning." It was true. He had worn the stupid mummy costume to school and hadn't changed.

"Tell me the truth, do I look like an absolute dunce?" He sat on the edge of my bed. Well, no use in trying to get homework done now.

"Why'd you ask?" I shut down the laptop and moved it behind me. "Did something happen today?"

"Well, almost all of the girls didn't wear a costume because they were 'too mature'. I'm worried this is going to end like it did that episode of Stranger Things. With nobody wearing a costume but the idiots that play DnD."

"Hey, I know many wonderful people who play Dungeons and Dragons. And you're not too old to dress up. I'm in twelfth grade and a few of my friends are adults and we're still going out tonight. Not to some stupid Halloween party. We're going to go out, dressed like morons and get a butt load of candy while we're at it." Wait, did he mention Stranger Things, "And why do you know about what happened in Stranger Things? Do you watch it? God I hope you don't."

"No, I don't watch it. But some boys talk about it."

Then both Mom and Dad appeared in our doorway. Mom looked at Jack, "Jack, Julian, Miles, and Henry are here. Now, you sure you want to go with them? Wouldn't you like to go with Auggie instead?"

"I was going to go with him but he went home sick today. Julian said I could go with them so here I go." Jack looked sort of bummed.

"That's fine. I hope he feels better. Remember, be back by seven-thirty, okay? That gives you two hours, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. Bye!" He disappeared out of our room and I heard the front door slam. Mom and Dad were always on his case to not slam doors but that time they just laughed.

Dad asked, "Are you going out tonight?"

"Yeah."

"With who?"

"I don't know. Couple of my friends. Probably the ones that go to Beecher to help out too." He was going into protective dad mode. Again.

"Names please."

"Honey, she's leaving home in less than a year. She can take care of herself." Mom was the less protective. Honestly she could leave Jack at a mall, drive half way home, realize he's missing, and go, "eh".

"Jonah, you know him. Christmas, you know her. Lauren, you don't know him but he's basically Jack. Dylan, you don't know him but he's also Jack. And Ruby, you don't know her but I promise she's a good child." I knew that wasn't enough. I went to my closet and came back with the dark teal cloak I had made last year with Jonah, Christmas, and a few others. "I'm going to be wearing what I'm wearing right now, this, and I have that teal lipstick. That's all." Dylan, Lauren, and Ruby didn't have one so we had gotten together a few weeks ago to make three more. I was dark teal of course, Christmas was dark purple, Ruby became red, Jonah was black, Dylan was dark green, and Lauren was a dark blue. All the girls would have their corresponding colors in lipstick. There was a pretty high chance that Jonah would have black lipstick but that wasn't my concern.

I heard a knock from the front door in a specific pattern. "That would be for me." I threw on the cloak and grabbed my tube of lipstick off my desk. I brushed past my parents and headed for the door. "Bye."

"Be home by nine!"

I stepped out into the hallway of the apartment building. Ruby was texting someone. And Jonah and Dylan were arguing as they emptied the "Take One" bowl from the apartment across from ours.

Ruby looked up from her phone and noticed me, "There you are. Do you by any chance know where Lauren lives?"

"Hmmm, I know where Christmas lives. I might know where he lives. Give me a minute though." I connected the clasp on the cloak so it wouldn't fall off and started applying the lipstick.

When I was done I decided to say hello to Dylan and Jonah. Ruby had gone back on her phone. Probably trying to figure out where Lauren was. "Hey guys, you know if Ms. Campbell sees you stealing the 'Take One' candy she will call the cops on you. It's technically theft." Jonah looked up at me and I jumped. "Holy crap Jonah." I knew there was a chance he'd be wearing lipstick but I was still surprised.

"Tell him to stop bothering me," Dylan demanded.

"Jonah, what did you do?" I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I didn't do anything." He pulled out a few tubes from his pocket, "I just thought that if all the girls and I am going to have lipstick, Dylan and Lauren might as well too."

"No! Uh, uh. Never!" Dylan started walking away down the hall.

"Come back here!" I called. He turned around and stomped back. "Why?"

"Dylan and I have been best friends for a long time. All this year, when I've been at his house, his sister calls us gay. Lipstick won't help our case."

"Well guess what, Super D? You're in theater and in pop culture, that's the gayest thing there is." My brutal honesty was always followed up by some sort of kindness, "I'm kidding don't worry about it. All that's just B.S. Lipstick doesn't mean you're one way or another. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. But, dark green kind of suits you. Wait… Did you say you're best friends with Lauren?" He nodded; I turned around. "Rubbles, we know where he lives." She shut off her phone. "Great, now that that's done. Let's head out. They may not live far but they'll be a ton of kids out there making it impossible to get anywhere."

Christmas looked wonderful as always. And after a lot of coaxing, Lauren and Dylan joined the lipstick party.

It was one of the best Halloweens ever. We were that group of high school students that looked completely out of place next to the little toddlers dressed as princesses. At a few of the households they got some strange looks. None of them said anything. Except for there was that one house where someone said they thought they looked like college students. Of course, we weren't suppose to hear that, but we did.

At around seven-thirty we were back at my place. I still could be out for an hour and a half but I was done. I'd gotten a decent amount of candy and was tired. I said goodbye and was back in the comfort of my phone. Jack wasn't back yet and Mom and dad weren't there yet. I found a note on the table.

 **Jack, Jada,**

 **Dad and I are over at the Greenfields. Be back by eight thirty.**

 **3 Mom**

I took a shower and when I was done Jack was back. He was in our room playing Minecraft when I went out to the kitchen to get water. I was out there when the home phone rang. I picked it up.

"Hello?" There was a moment of silence before the other side of the line responded.

"Hello. This is Via. Auggie's older sister." She sounded a little upset. Why was she calling? Maybe Auggie wanted to talk to Jack. But wouldn't he call instead of his sister. "Who's this?"

"Jada, Jack's sister. Should I get Jack. Does Auggie want to talk to him?" Pause.

"No, actually I wanted to talk about Jack and Auggie. Actually, I don't even know why I'm trying to talk to you. I didn't even know you existed. Never mind. Bye."

"Wait, wait, wait. Don't hang up." I was curious. "Why do you want to talk about Jack and Auggie? Did something happen to them?"

"I guess you could say that," She mumbled, "More like Jack did something to Auggie."

"Really?" That was hard to understand. "I thought they were friends. I've seen Auggie over here a lot and I'm sure you've seen Jack there too."

"I have. He seemed like a nice kid, but, uh…"

"But what?" Jack had done something, I knew it. And it was something bad.

"Well, today's Halloween and Auggie's been really excited. He was planning to be Boba Fett. brAnd he told Jack that. But then our dog threw up on the costume and he had to use last year's which was some sort of scream thing, something like that. He walked into homeroom and saw Jack talking with Julian and some of his friends. I don't think he realized that he was there. Jack said…. Jack said…" What did he say? "Jack said that if he looked like Auggie he'd kill himself."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I wish I were."

"Thanks for telling me," I had nothing else to say, "Bye."

"Bye."

I put the home phone back into the kitchen. As if on cue, Jack came out of our bedroom with the computer. He placed it on the table.

"You said you needed to use it. I'm done. Auggie didn't log on today."

I grabbed the computer and pushed past him. "I can't believe you. You're such a little brat." I slammed the door behind me and locked it.

I worked on an English report for the next half our. When Mom and Dad got back they forced me to unlock the door because Jack had to go to bed. We didn't talk for the rest of the night. We didn't talk before school in the morning either.

* * *

 **Sorry it took me such a long time to write this chapter. I wrote probably three versions of this before writing this one. Guess what? Tomorrow I'm seeing Wonder again. Yay! I know what's going to happen in the next two chapters but them I'm stuck so let's hope I think of something. Leave a review if you so desire. That's all for now.**


	5. Chapter 5- Jack

What was wrong with Jada? I didn't even do anything wrong. Once I gave her the computer like she had asks she yelled at me and locked me out of our room. She finally let me in after Mom and Dad got back and forced her to. We didn't talk for the rest of the night. Not that I cared.

School the next day was pretty terrible like always. Auggie still wouldn't talk to me and I re-realized how much I hated Julian. I didn't know if Henry, Miles, or Julian realized they were making me feel rotten, but they were. I was pretty sure all of them were pretty rich. Maybe Henry and Miles weren't as rich as Julian, but they were going to a gosh darn private school in New York without a scholarship.

A few weeks after Halloween, the Monday before Thanksgiving, I was still sitting with them. Julian was complaining about having to go to Paris. I of course would not be leaving town. Other than low key bragging, the three of them also teased me about other things. It wasn't a big deal. They just would sometimes say something about a grade I had gotten on a test or project then make a joke or laugh about it.

It wouldn't even have happened if I were smarter. I wasn't stupid but I was no Einstein. I was okay in P.E., Math(ish), and Computer Class. Science was bad, I was doing okay when I was cheating off of Auggie. History was getting better, but I was still only getting a C in the class. But English, oh man, that one was absolutely horrible. I just wasn't a big reader or writer and it showed. My grade had dropped to an F in that class, my parents didn't know that, of course.

That Monday we had gotten an English essay back. I had gotten mine back last, while I waited I looked over at what my desk partner, Ram, had gotten. Ninety-three percent. When I got mine back from Mr. Browne my heart dropped. There wasn't even a grade. **See me afterschool. We need to talk.** Was written in red pen on the front page. Ram looked over and read it before I could flip the paper over to hide it.

He whispered, "Don't worry. I'm sure Mr. Browne isn't mad."

The rest of the day I didn't say much. I just dreaded when the last bell would ring. I changed out of my P.E. clothes really slowly and left the locker room almost ten minutes after school ended. There were only a few more kids out in the courtyard and even less in the hallways.

The door to Mr. Browne's classroom was open but I still knocked. I had my paper in my hands. Mr. Browne looked up from his laptop.

"Come in, Jack Will," He pointed to a stool that he had pulled up in front of his desk. Jack sat and placed the paper on the desk in front of both of them.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" I sighed, "I already know I'm failing this class. There's no need to tell me again."

"I'm not here to judge you for not doing well in my class," Mr. Browne was probably the nicest teacher I had ever met, "I don't want to keep failing you. I want to help. But in order for me to help I want to know why this is hard for you."

"I don't know okay. I'm probably just stupid when it comes to things like this." I wanted to disappear.

"Jack, you're not stupid. Just by reading everything you've turned in, I can tell that you can write. You just need to clean some things up."

"It just takes so long and I know I need to change some things but I don't know how. So, I just leave it. I don't know."

"It's perfectly fine that you're not great at this right now. You have the rest of this year to improve. Listen, tonight I'm going to call your parents and talk to them about what's going on. We'll go from there okay."

I looked towards the clock, "Can I go now?"

"Yes."

I leaved my essay on his desk and started for the auditorium. When I got there they were already running a number from Legally Blonde. Jonah noticed me and sneakily ducked from the other side of the auditorium.

"Where were you?" He asked in a whisper, "They're running Omigod right now but they're doing Whipped Into Shape next."

"I had to talk to my English teacher."

Once rehearsal was done I walked home with Jada. We still weren't talking. At home we kept ignoring each other while we did our homework. During dinner we were finally forced to talk to each other.

"Jack, Mr. Browne called," Mom said, "Why didn't you tell us you were failing English?"

"I, I, I didn't know how to tell you." I looked down. I felt really embarrassed. I felt like I was going to cry. I looked like it too.

"Jack," Dad added, "We're not mad. We just would have liked to know."

I god. I was crying now. This wasn't good. I sniffled, "Can I go to my room."

My parents looked at each other and Mom gave a small nod, "We can talk about this later."

I nodded and hurried to my room. I didn't even bother turning on the lights. I just fell onto my bed and cried into my pillow. Why was this happening to me? Out of all of the people in the world, why did it have to be me. I realized I had nothing to complain about. I didn't look like Auggie. I never went through twenty-seven surgeries. At least he was smart, he had that going for him.

I don't know how much time passed before I heard a knock on the door. It was probably Mom and Dad. I didn't lift my face from my pillow. My voice was muffled, "Come in."

The door's hinges were old and squeaked. The lights flickered on, "Wakey wakey Jackalope." No one but Jada called him that. She was the one who came up with the name for my Minecraft username.

"What do you want?"

"I'll tell you when you come back from the dead. Sit up." She ordered.

I turned myself over and pushed myself up. "What do you want?"

"I talked to Mom and Dad," This was the first time she'd voluntarily talked to me in a few weeks. "They're not mad you know."

"I know," I wiped my eyes again.

"Then why are you crying?" She gave a small smile. Jada was back to the Jada I knew. "Come on Jack. You can talk to me. I'm sorry I haven't been the nicest. I was just upset about something someone told me. It's not important. So Jackalope, why're crying? What's on your mind?"

"I-I don't know."

"I think you do." She started giving me an awkward side hug.

"I'm just mad right now, okay! Auggie won't talk to me! Julian's being mean as always! And I'm probably going to loose my scholarship!" At the beginning of school I hadn't really want to still be going to Beecher but I had changed my mind. I liked most of my teachers and Beecher was where Auggie was and we were best friends. At least I thought we were. It would all go away though. I had a GPA of around 2.2, and with my recent failing in English, it would drop to 2.0. To keep my scholarship I had to keep my GPA from getting too low and 2.0 was pretty low.

"Listen, I know that you're embarrassed that you're failing a class. I would be too. But it's not that big of a deal. In twenty years it won't matter if you fail one class. Or say one mean thing to someone." She then said, "Mom and Dad talked with me. Would you be willing to let me tutor you in English. Just help you with your homework. Please?"

"Okay," It would help, "I guess so."

"Great."

The rest of the night was better. The entire family watched an episode of _Psych_ and when we were getting ready for bed it started to snow. Jada woke me up like always and I wasn't really looking forward to school. But when we left our room after getting dressed we found a note on the table.

 **Jada & Jack,**

 **This morning I got an email from both your schools. Schools canceled today because of the snow. I had to meet with someone across town and will be back this afternoon. Your father is doing something and will be back who knows when. Keep track of Jack.**

 **-Mom**

"Yes! No school!" I beamed.

"I see you're excited," Jada pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. "What are you going to do today?"

That was a good question. I wanted to call Auggie and see if we could hang out together but he hated me at the moment. So I hated him. I didn't know what I'd do with my day.

"Not sure."

"That's fine, you could just stick around here today. That's what I'm doing, anyway." She opened the fridge and rummaged around a little. "Might have some friends over. Any of my friends you particularly want over today?" She took out a Tupperware of plain spaghetti and popped the top off. Jada took some pasta and popped it into her mouth.

"What are you doing?"

"Eating spaghetti," She said matter-of-factly. "Seriously though, I don't want to invite anyone over if you hate them."

"I don't really care." I shrugged.

"Great, real helpful. Mr. Jonah Valentine it is." She put the plastic lid back on the Tupperware.

Jada called Jonah and he came over at ten-thirty. I always thought that they would make a nice couple. They'd known each other for forever and I could tell that Jonah had a crush on Jada.

For the rest of the morning I played Minecraft while they ran lines with each other. By one in the afternoon I was bored out of my mind. I went to ask them if we could go outside and couldn't find them. I heard the water in the bathroom turn on. The door wasn't locked and I opened it.

"Woah," The first thing I saw was Jada. Her hair wasn't the same color of mine. Well, the top of it was. The bottom was now and orangey yellow.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Jonah had his hand under running water.

Jada was reading instructions off of his cellphone, "Jonah, I can't concentrate if you keep whining and moaning."

"Hurry, it stings." He complained.

"What's going on?" Between Jonah's panic and Jada's new hair color I needed some answer.

"Just some hair stuff. I did mine but Jonah's worried that he's allergic to the bleach or something like that."

"My hand stings. Conclusion I'm allergic."

"Grow up, it's going to sting. It's bleach for god sake. I thought you wanted to bleach your hair."

They continued to argue for a few more minutes while I just watched. I didn't know how to interrupt.

"Um, guys. Hello?" I waved my hands a little to get their attention. They directed their attention to me. "I was wondering if we could go outside. Maybe Skeleton Hill or something."

"Sure," Jada answered quickly, "How about we go in like thirty minutes?"

"Okay."

I put on a few jackets and found my hat eventually. I waited in the living room and when the two of them came out of the bathroom I nearly choked on nothing. Jonah's hair was a light brown to start with and now it looked sort of blonde with some orange in it.

"Why did I agree to this?" He asked.

"I don't know, but you kind of look like some sort of surfer dude."

The three of us piled into Jonah's parents' car. Jonah and Jada sat in the front seats and I watched from the back. They fought like an old married couple. I was kind of afraid that they'd crash the car.

At Skeleton Hill, they let me out while they stayed in the car. I had this old sled that Jada probably had gotten when she was younger than I was then. It was fun for the first two times but it would have been more fun if I had someone to talk to. I was at the bottom of the hill when I saw them. Summer and Auggie.

They looked so happy. But when they looked at me Auggie said something that I didn't hear. Summer said something in response and sighed. They both stood up and headed in the direction away from me. Summer looked back and gave me an apologetic look.

Auggie was still so mad at me. Why? What did I do? I started to walk back to Jonah's car but stopped when I passed one of the park's trash cans. Inside the bin, there was a sled that was old and slightly broken but still better than the one that I had. Happily, I pulled the sled out of the trash and put mine in. I tugged it back to the car.

I opened the back car door and shoved in the sled first. I climbed in after it.

"Woah, what is that?" Jada turned around.

"I found it in one of the trash bins."

"Are you keeping it?"

"No, I brought it into this car for no reason." I said sarcastically, "Of course I'm keeping it. It needs a little fixing and maybe some paint but it's perfectly fine."

"Hey," Jonah piped in, "I think I have some things at my place that we could use to restore that thing to its former glory."

We went over to Jonah's apartment. It was in the complex next to Jada and mine. The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon repainting and tightening screws. By the time we were done with it, the sled looked better than new.

The entire Thanksgiving weekend I had a lot of fun but then it was back to reality and school. In science, the class switched seats. I was crossing my fingers that I wouldn't be stuck next to Auggie again. For all of the projects that year, your desk partner was you partner. And Auggie and I still weren't in a good place. The world had to have been out to get me because I was once again next to Auggie. The next project was the science fair, I knew it. And we'd either have to make up fast or both of us would be miserable.

* * *

 **It's a miracle. It's only been a week since my last update. Hopefully you liked this chapter. At the moment I am sitting in a blanket fort I made in my room. I'm exhausted. I just had a three hour all dance rehearsal for Bring It On. Leave a review if you do so choose to. And have a good night. Or morning. Or afternoon. I don't know where you live.**


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